The United States, Denmark, and Greenland signed an agreement on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, granting Washington a significantly expanded military presence on the resource-rich Arctic island. The deal, reached after years of tensions between the transatlantic allies, resolves a key point of contention and comes amid escalating great-power competition with Russia and China.
The agreement allows the US to modernize and expand its activities at the Pituffik Space Base in northwest Greenland. New bases will be established at Narsarsuaq in the south and Mestersvig in the east, with the option to create additional defense areas. US aircraft are permitted to fly over and land anywhere in Greenland, including its territorial waters, and are granted undersea access.
US President Donald Trump, before signing, said: "This is tremendous for Europe and for the United States and for everybody. And for Greenland, it's going to be incredible." In his UNGA address, he announced the US would "immediately begin the process of developing a large military presence in the appropriate locations," including "building two very major military bases."
The deal bars non-NATO countries from establishing military installations or a persistent military presence in Greenland without unanimous approval from Denmark, Greenland, and the US. Investors from outside NATO and the EU are excluded from sensitive sectors. The accord has no end date; if Greenland becomes independent, it will remain in NATO and assume Denmark's obligations.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called it "a deal that can last forever," while Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen described it as "a win-win-win," adding: "Your security is our security, and our security is your security." NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and European Council President Antonio Costa both welcomed the agreement.
The deal marks a major expansion of the US military footprint in Greenland, which had shrunk from thousands of troops across 17 bases since 1945 to about 200 at the remote Pituffik base. Washington now strengthens its position in the strategically vital Arctic, aiming to keep rival nations, notably China and Russia, at bay.
Source: www.aljazeera.com